Syrian rebels try to storm prison in Aleppo

Syrian rebels placed car bombs outside a prison in Aleppo in an attempt to free some of its 4,000 detainees.

Activists say Syrian rebels[2] have detonated two car bombs outside the main prison in the northern city of Aleppo[3] and are trying to storm the facility, where hundreds of regime opponents are believed to be held.Around 4,000 prisoners including Islamists and common law criminals are held in the prison on the outskirts of the northern city, which is largely under rebel control, Rami Abdul-Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights[4] said.

He says around 250 of the prisoners are jailed for reasons related to the 26-month-old uprising against Assad’s regime.

The car bombs exploded simultaneously outside the walls of the central prison Wednesday morning, adds Abdul-Rahman.He goes on to say the blasts are part of a coordinated rebel assault [5]on the prison, and fierce clashes are raging between President Bashar Assad’s troops and opposition fighters around the detention center.There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Elsewhere, violent clashes were reported in Idlib province of northwest Syria and in Daraa in the south.